


I'm Havin' a Bad Day

by sweetprentiss



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: BUT NOT THIS TIME, Crying, Cuddling, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, and hotch knows what he has to do, emily has her bad day, emily needs to watch marley and me to make herself cry because vulnerability scares her shitless, healing trauma, so she tells hotch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-17 12:09:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29841318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetprentiss/pseuds/sweetprentiss
Summary: Season 7, Unknown Subject. Emily has her bad day and you’re there to pick up the pieces.
Relationships: Emily Prentiss/Reader
Kudos: 14





	I'm Havin' a Bad Day

_ “I want you to make a deal with me,” Aaron started, lifting his chin and looking at Emily with uncharacteristically gentle eyes.  _

_ Emily tilted her head, flicking her gaze away and back to her boss.  _

_ “You’re going to go weeks, months even, feeling fine. And then you’re gonna have a bad day.” A small frown grew on Emily’s face as she began to object. Before she could speak, Hotch continued, softening his voice and letting his warm eyes really bore into Emily’s. “Just let me know when you do.”  _

_ Emily’s surprise was thinly veiled, “And that’s it?”  _

_ “That’s it.”  _

_ With a nod of her head, Emily’s face relaxed. “Deal.”  _

Emily was sitting stock-still in the pale leather chair of the jet when she heard the sturdy steps of Hotch climb up the stairs before stuttering and shifting to creep gently to the seat across from the dark-haired agent. She could feel his worried gaze on her face but she kept her eyes down, counting the number of lines on the table between them. After a gentle sigh, she looked at Hotch, lips pressed together and tears just so slightly catching behind her eyes. Her chin trembled and her eyebrows angled upward as she tried to steady her voice. 

“I--I’m havin’ a bad day.” 

Hotch nodded once before reaching across and patting Emily on her knee. 

“Thank you for telling me. We are almost finished up down to the station, do you want to wait here for us? JJ can grab your bag on her way out.” 

Emily tersely nodded, not able to give more of a response without the dam bursting. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Emily move to the seat in the very back of the jet and curl in on herself. He stepped off of the jet and immediately made a phone call. 

“Y/N? How soon can you be at the BAU?” 

\-- 

You sat in your car as it idled in the jet’s hangar waiting for the team to taxi back after landing. You had Emily’s favorite tea steaming in the cupholder next to you, her favorite blanket curled up on the passenger seat of the SUV, and a playlist you specifically made for her gently pulsing through the speakers. It wasn’t long before you saw the nose of the plane announce its entrance. It slowly came to a stop and you jumped out of the car when you saw the door unlatch. 

The whole team filed out solemnly, the case obviously wearing on them. Hotch came out last, crossing over to talk with you for a moment. 

“I told her that I would let her get her bearings before bringing her back to the BAU. I’m just stalling her so that the team will be in their cars before she sees you in case she breaks down.” 

You nod at the older man, intimately familiar with Emily’s hatred of vulnerability. When you could see movement near the door of the jet, Hotch quickly made his retreat to the team and you stepped closer to the stairs. Emily kept her head down, dark hair obscuring eyes that you knew had to be straining with the effort not to cry. 

“Hi, baby.” 

Your voice startled Emily and you can tell by the way her lips trembled and the glistening of her eyes that you were the exact person she needed in that moment. She quickly descended the rest of the way and flung herself into your arms. You wrapped one arm tightly around her, using the other hand to smooth her hair as she tucked her nose in your neck, breathing deeply. Her shoulders started to shake but you knew that she wouldn’t let herself cry while still out in the open. 

“Baby, let’s go get in the car, okay? I have a nice, warm tea and your blanket waiting for you.” 

Emily having flashbacks and bad days had not been an uncommon occurrence since her “death” and it wasn’t until she returned from Paris back into your arms that she able to find any kind of comfort through them. You felt her nod into your neck and then pull back. Her eyes searched yours and you tucked some dark hair behind her ear before cupping her jaw and rubbing her cheek with your thumb. 

With one arm around her back, you walked with her to the passenger side of the SUV, opening the door for her. You quickly collected the blanket before helping her to sit down, buckling her in, and snuggling her into the blanket. You could see the barest flicker of a fight in her eyes but you just shook your head at her. 

“I’m your wife, Emily. You’re not an invalid, I just want to do this.”

That seemed to placate her enough and you pressed a gentle kiss to her lips before returning to your side of the car. The 45-minute ride back to your shared DC apartment was silent and you let out a sigh of relief when you felt her hand go limp in yours and heard the soft snores coming from where she had her head pressed against window. The traffic was abnormally calm, your car gently gliding on the pavement. When you pulled into the parking garage, Emily stirred and yawned, stretching elegantly in the seat. 

“I really don’t know how you make everything look so graceful, Em.” 

Her laughter was hollow but the kiss she placed on your hand was genuine. You could see love and gratitude shining in her eyes and it tugged at your chest. Emily was so beautiful and it killed you to see her hurting. 

“I’m sure it will be extra graceful when I go flop on the couch and cry into my popcorn and watch Marley and Me.” 

You walked hand in hand to the elevator. “I will never understand why you willingly watch that movie as often as we do. You aren’t even a dog person.” 

“When a girl’s gotta cry, a girl’s gotta cry.” You wrapped an arm around her waist and pressed a kiss to the side of her head. When you heard a sniffle as you walked to the front door of the apartment, you ignored it so that you could get her through the door. 

Placing her bags on the floor, you heard the door lock behind you. When you turned to face your wife, her arms were wrapped tightly around herself. You gently worked them free and brought them to your waist. 

“I’m right here, baby. You’re safe. Let go.”

A gut-wrenching sob tore from her slim body and she buried herself in your embrace. You didn’t know how long you stood there, rocking her back and forth and rubbing her back. There would be stains in your shirt from the warm tears that ran in rivers down her cheeks onto your shoulder. 

When her sobs calmed to hiccups, you brought Emily to the couch and got her snuggled into her blanket, moving to put Marley and Me into the DVD player. 

“I’m going to go make up popcorn, honey. I will be right back.” 

Emily hummed a little and you looked back to see her hand outstretched and a frown on her face. You grabbed slender fingers and pressed a kiss to them but when you pulled back, she grasped you firmly and didn’t let go. 

“Not yet. Please.” 

The look in Emily’s eyes nearly killed you and you let yourself get pulled down next to her on the couch. You pulled gently on her waist, guiding her into your lap. With her legs across your lap and her head resting on your shoulder, you began to soothe your hand up and down her arm, using the other to tangle your fingers together.

You sat together for a long while silently, barely listening to the movie playing in front of you. After a while, you could feel soft kisses pressed to your cheek, your forehead, your jaw. With a smooth turn, you captured Emily’s soft lips with yours and could taste the salty tears as they dried. A hand tangled in your hair, gripping at you almost as if you would disappear if she let go.

Her body seemed to relax after a while and she finally pulled back, “I love you so much, Y/N.”

Some of your hair was twirled in her fingers as she thought. “I love you, too, Em. More than you could ever know.”

Emily slid off of your lap but kept her legs strewn over yours. Grasping one of your hands with hers and using the other to self-soothe by running fingers through your hair, the raven-haired woman sighed.

“This was a really, really hard case.”

You nodded silently, encouraging her to go on.

“This woman abducted and was going to murder her rapist. She tortured him the way he had tortured her and she was ready to kill him when we showed up. I lied to her to get her to not kill him and then she refused to give her statement to anyone but me. She kept going on and on about how I don’t know what it’s like to live in fear and I couldn’t keep it together. She saw right through me and she asked me if I killed the man who hurt me. She told me that while my monster is dead, she has to live with hers.”

Emily’s chest rose and fell with her emotions and you could see the ache in her eyes.

“You didn’t kill Ian Doyle, sweetheart.”

Her grip on your hand tightened, “No, but I might as well have. We all knew he wasn’t going to make it out of there alive and none of us were even going to try.”

You let out a calming breath, Emily unconsciously mirroring your actions.

“You’re allowed to be relieved that he’s dead, Emily. You’re allowed to dance all over his grave for everything he put you through.”

“I know that.”

Emily’s walls were threatening to throw themselves up but you had danced this dance with Emily enough time that you knew exactly which buttons to press to get her to open up.

“I’m sure you do. And I’m sure you know exactly which compartment you’ve tried to shove him in and he won’t fit. He’s gone, Emily.”

Her breath hitched and you knew you were about to make a breakthrough.

“Where did you put him, Emily?”

With a cry, Emily dropped her head to your shoulder.

“I can’t put him anywhere! He’s all over me! I can feel his hands on my skin and the heat branding his insignia on my chest. I can hear him telling me all the ways he wants to kill me, to kill you. I can’t escape him, he’s everywhere and I can’t make it go away!”

You rubbed her back and made soothing noises in her hair as she cried.

“He’s never going to touch you again, Emily. He’s gone. You’re here with me and he will never get you again. It’s just you and me, baby.”

You snaked a hand up the back of her blouse to start rubbing directly on her skin. She tensed at first.

“You feel that? That’s me, that’s me on your skin. This is me telling you about all the lives we are going to live. Maybe you can’t escape him, maybe he will never go away. But neither will I and neither will you. You are stronger than him, Emily. You won.”

Emily slumped in your embrace and reached to trace patterns on the skin of your tummy under your sweater. You sat in the quiet for a long time, letting Emily sit with her thoughts. Nothing good would come from trying to force her through this process faster than she was ready for. You knew when to push and when to catch.

When Emily finally looked back up at you, you could tell that she had made some kind of peace with the war in her mind.

“It’s just you and me.” Her eyes looked so broken and you couldn’t help but pull her tightly into you and kiss her temple.

“Yes, my love. It’s just you and me. Forever.”

Emily leaned back on the couch, bringing you with her to lay on her chest. There, you both fell asleep tangled up in each other. When you awoke once more, the burning sunset reflected off of Emily’s skin and when she looked into your eyes, she knew that everything would always be alright so long as she had you.

  
  



End file.
